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Hello - I've been an anonymous follower of this forum for some time but am finally serious about purchasing my first piano. I played for around 20 yrs but not in the last 10. Now I have two children and want to keep music alive in the home.

I started out thinking about purchasing a used Kawai grand piano for $6-8K. I had a Kawai growing up and found it an excellent instrument. Based on information I have gathered, this should be enough to purchase a ~1980 Kawai or Yamaha of Japanese manufacture.

I have been two stores (and numerous private parties) and found few things:1) It isn't clear that the 1970s and 1980s Kawai or Yamaha's have held up tremendously well based on the condition of the instruments I have seen. 2) Two independent dealers have both HIGHLY recommended the new Del Fandrich Young Change/Weber designs. 3) I like the tone and feel of these new pianos better than the used Japanese pianos!

So my dilemma is this: I was biased against a Chinese-made piano and I believe many postings about pianos that I have read are. People claim that they use inferior materials, have more variability, will not hold tuning as long, etc.

Is conventional wisdom about these instruments misplaced? Was there a similar xenophobia for Japanese instruments from the 1960s-1970s? Are they improving?

Is there any well-argued reason why these new Young Chang's can't make good "first" pianos compared to a used Japanese piano?

Does anyone else have any experience with the new Young Changs/Webers?

Thanks for your patience! I am hoping to get independent advice from the professionals.

The first thing to think about is the differences between any 30-year-old piano and a new one. Car shoppers rarely compare two such models, realizing that materials age with time. This is a blanket statement that I can safely make.

Pianos are made mostly of organic materials: wood, leather, felt. A new piano of any brand that was left untouched in a showroom since 1980 would have considerable deficiencies compared to a new one. Wood gets brittle and warps, felt gets hard and distintegrates, leather dries and cracks. All of these items are routinely replaced, but of course that adds to the cost.

Consider two strategies to simplify your choices: either get the cheapest thing that will get you by in the short term, or invest in the best item you can afford. Since most pianos have a ten-year warranty, and since the design of small grands like Del's new 4'11" Young Chang is greatly improved over those of 30 years ago, I recommend the new piano. There's a reason you like it -- trust yourself!

Not sure what your budget is, but at Young Chang, they make several different levels; Young Chang, Weber, and Albert Weber. The Albert Webers are the top of the line they build using Renner and other high quality parts. It is built in Korea. I tried several and found them very nice and still affordable. If they are not out of your price range, I would try them first.

Thanks - at my budget, I was originally looking at the Y and W series. The Y-175 and W-175 had some slight - almost imperceptible - differences in tone but both were impressive. I'll look for the Albert Weber models.